This writer has been quite disgusted by the sacrilege that has been performed against Biffy Clyro tonight.
Quite frankly, he does not care who sanctioned this arse to perform "Many of Horror" and he doesn't care whether it was indeed the members of Biffy! He just preys it wasn't!
This writer wishes there was a campaign much like last Christmas, where the nation of music lovers, and not those who had seen some bloke singing on a TV programme and thought, "Oh, i know him lets buy his single, but forget who he is by Easter", stood up against Cowell et al, and bought Rage Against the Machine!!
It was a statement against manufactured shite that is created by a glorified talent contest that is a TV programme and nothing more.
Who won last year? Who cares!!
Maybe Biffy Clyro sanctioned whatever-his-name-is-who-won to sing and release their song, but quite frankly i don't care. They could have allowed the whole lot of them to release it as a mass sing-a-long for any charity, what a wonderful way to promote the brand, whilst cynically claiming to be totally behind a well deserved cause.
This is just the straw that broke the camel's back, and this writer is furious that this twunt has been able to sing this beautiful song and virtually claim it as his own.
Ask any random pillock on the street between now and March who sang "Many of Horror" and they'll say thingy from X-Factor. NO!!!!!
This is a pointless rant against the masses, and there will be many of my peers and those who i look up to, who unfortunately seem to watch this load of toss and comment on Twitter as if any of it had any significance whatsoever. They even seem to enjoy it. Christ alive!!
However i felt empassioned to write something and explain my feelings, as i cannot stand it anymore.
FOR GOD'S SAKE PEOPLE, IT IS A MEANINGLESS TV PROGRAMME, THAT IS ELEVATED TO SOME KIND OF MAMMOTH MOMENT IN HUMAN HISTORY.
It seems that i contradict myself. On one hand i denounce X-Factor as a load of nonsense but none the less, a cultural institution, and lambaste it with vitriol, whilst on the other claim it is a meaningless light entertainment show with no long lasting meaning. Why am i so bothered by it?
Maybe because it is given credence by major recording artists with talent (Will.i.am aside). Maybe because it invades the Christmas charts. Maybe because every year it is the same old rubbish that end up covering something and take it to number 1 (except for last year, woo hoo).
That is enough. Haven't you earned enough now Simon? Fuck off to America and make a buck or two and give us a break. I bet no-one really notices if it isn't there this time next year.
Here's hoping.
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Monday, 6 December 2010
The Nineties are back!
The Naughties were the 80's revival decade. Calvin Harris bombastically declared he wanted intercourse with anyone born within the eighth decade of the 20th century, I, myself, kept a healthy distance from Mr Harris.
In the er...twenty-tens....the Nineties are making a comeback. Brit-pop is en-vogue. Maybe. The NME championed bands still have too many bloody synths (not always bad, i grant you), but we have the era, ney, generation, defining bands willing to take their collective pipes and slippers off and give it another whirl.
Pulp will be back in 2011. Blur were a bit impatient and couldn't wait for 2010 so blew the roof off Glasto 2009 instead, but they felt the force, the winds of change, or rather the old winds coming back round and making us realise, actually, this new stuff isn't all that terrific is it?
Tomorrow night i get my own nostalgia fest in. Suede at the O2. Although they are without Bernard Butler, the other guy still wrote that bitchin' intro to "Beautiful Ones" didn't he! That's got to be worth the entrance fee alone. Except its free, so for that, I'll even not go to the bar for the rest of the song. I'll wait for "She's in Fashion" to get the beers in.
On the major plus side of course, Animal Nitrates and Trash. Oh and Dog Man Star.
Shed Seven have been seen touring pottering up the M1, along with The Bluetones and Ultrasound even played a tiny (excuse the pun) gig in Islington in September.
Granted we don't want to see too many Courteeners marching over the horizon, but why exactly were the 80's so worth ripping off? Generally regarded as the worst decade for music in human history, the fact someone could write a song using one finger on a keyboard seemed to spawn hundreds of luminous coloured t-shirts and stupid glasses bouncing around, one hand in the air, the other taping with one digit, using three notes max. At least Status Quo used chords.
I will bet with anyone, more albums from the nineties will appear, and have appeared, in any list of Top 100 albums ever lists, than the 80's.
That may not be conclusive proof that the 90's were superior, lists like those are ten a penny, and "Thriller", "The Queen is Dead" and "The Stone Roses" will of course will be in the upper echelons, but when classics such as "Definitely Maybe" "...Morning Glory" "Different Class" "Modern Life is Rubbish" "Urban Hymns" "Attack of the Grey Lantern" "Nevermind" "In Utero" " The Colour and the Shape" "Dookie" "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" "The Bends" "OK Computer" "The Holy Bible" "Everything Must Go" "I Should Coco" "Dog Man Star" "Six" "Word Gets Around" "Moseley Shoals" "The Man who" and "Garbage" to name but.....22 are up for debate, theres no contest is there?
At the very least its a trip down memory lane for the late 20's/30's to remember the halcyon days that started nearly 20 years ago (did anything great come out in 1990?).
On the train to Waterloo, there will be much reminiscing, a tear may be shed for those care free teenage days.
Oh if we had done things differently (damn that Art GCSE!!)
In the er...twenty-tens....the Nineties are making a comeback. Brit-pop is en-vogue. Maybe. The NME championed bands still have too many bloody synths (not always bad, i grant you), but we have the era, ney, generation, defining bands willing to take their collective pipes and slippers off and give it another whirl.
Pulp will be back in 2011. Blur were a bit impatient and couldn't wait for 2010 so blew the roof off Glasto 2009 instead, but they felt the force, the winds of change, or rather the old winds coming back round and making us realise, actually, this new stuff isn't all that terrific is it?
Tomorrow night i get my own nostalgia fest in. Suede at the O2. Although they are without Bernard Butler, the other guy still wrote that bitchin' intro to "Beautiful Ones" didn't he! That's got to be worth the entrance fee alone. Except its free, so for that, I'll even not go to the bar for the rest of the song. I'll wait for "She's in Fashion" to get the beers in.
On the major plus side of course, Animal Nitrates and Trash. Oh and Dog Man Star.
Shed Seven have been seen touring pottering up the M1, along with The Bluetones and Ultrasound even played a tiny (excuse the pun) gig in Islington in September.
Granted we don't want to see too many Courteeners marching over the horizon, but why exactly were the 80's so worth ripping off? Generally regarded as the worst decade for music in human history, the fact someone could write a song using one finger on a keyboard seemed to spawn hundreds of luminous coloured t-shirts and stupid glasses bouncing around, one hand in the air, the other taping with one digit, using three notes max. At least Status Quo used chords.
I will bet with anyone, more albums from the nineties will appear, and have appeared, in any list of Top 100 albums ever lists, than the 80's.
That may not be conclusive proof that the 90's were superior, lists like those are ten a penny, and "Thriller", "The Queen is Dead" and "The Stone Roses" will of course will be in the upper echelons, but when classics such as "Definitely Maybe" "...Morning Glory" "Different Class" "Modern Life is Rubbish" "Urban Hymns" "Attack of the Grey Lantern" "Nevermind" "In Utero" " The Colour and the Shape" "Dookie" "Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness" "The Bends" "OK Computer" "The Holy Bible" "Everything Must Go" "I Should Coco" "Dog Man Star" "Six" "Word Gets Around" "Moseley Shoals" "The Man who" and "Garbage" to name but.....22 are up for debate, theres no contest is there?
At the very least its a trip down memory lane for the late 20's/30's to remember the halcyon days that started nearly 20 years ago (did anything great come out in 1990?).
On the train to Waterloo, there will be much reminiscing, a tear may be shed for those care free teenage days.
Oh if we had done things differently (damn that Art GCSE!!)
........but the ashes are!!!
Have to admit, i thought we'd get done by the weather. Or that the Aussies would stick it out, but they capitulated. England style. The England we used to know. Although there is still time.
What you have to remember, however, is that it is 1-0, Mr Ponting.
Whilst Perth will be different (the day's play starts at 2am here for one), as Bumble, Nas, Athers and Sir Beefy have commented on the past two days (nights), quite frankly we are better than them. They can talk about a team in transition until they are blue in the face, England must have been in transition for 15 odd years then.
Ponting said in the aftermath of Swanny ripping them apart, that the bowling attack is comparable, it was just that England showed better discipline. That and better line, consistency, swing and spin. Apart from them, we were even-stevens. He also alluded to it being the little things like them being unable to hold catches and England taking them. Considering catching and fielding is a third of the game of cricket its not such a "little thing", Ricky!
What he did nearly slip out is that there is a good chance there will be big changes as he is meeting the Chairman of the Australian Selectors that evening.
As Richard Herring put on Twitter, Australia were 549 for 20, England were 620 for 5.
They'll need Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist et al to come out of retirement to sway that kind of batting and bowling form.
Of course England could self-destruct and Australia won't have to step up.
You get the feeling that isn't going to happen though and with England only requiring one test victory to retain the Ashes, let alone win it outright, its looking good for that little urn to be travelling back in Andrew Strauss's carry on luggage.
What you have to remember, however, is that it is 1-0, Mr Ponting.
Whilst Perth will be different (the day's play starts at 2am here for one), as Bumble, Nas, Athers and Sir Beefy have commented on the past two days (nights), quite frankly we are better than them. They can talk about a team in transition until they are blue in the face, England must have been in transition for 15 odd years then.
Ponting said in the aftermath of Swanny ripping them apart, that the bowling attack is comparable, it was just that England showed better discipline. That and better line, consistency, swing and spin. Apart from them, we were even-stevens. He also alluded to it being the little things like them being unable to hold catches and England taking them. Considering catching and fielding is a third of the game of cricket its not such a "little thing", Ricky!
What he did nearly slip out is that there is a good chance there will be big changes as he is meeting the Chairman of the Australian Selectors that evening.
As Richard Herring put on Twitter, Australia were 549 for 20, England were 620 for 5.
They'll need Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist et al to come out of retirement to sway that kind of batting and bowling form.
Of course England could self-destruct and Australia won't have to step up.
You get the feeling that isn't going to happen though and with England only requiring one test victory to retain the Ashes, let alone win it outright, its looking good for that little urn to be travelling back in Andrew Strauss's carry on luggage.
Saturday, 4 December 2010
Will we ever see football come home?
So we lost! The hysteria whipped up by SkySportsNews in the build up to the announcement meant the nation was gripped, ready for the little gnome to announce us the hosts of the 2018 World Cup Finals.
Strangely though, especially after Dion Dublin's Nostradamus like predictions ("we heard it here first"), FIFA seemed to have spelt ENGLAND, RUSSIA.
It was odd that the presence of the "holy trinity", Beckham, Cameron and Wales, seemed to have all pundits and bookmakers alike sure that we were a shoe-in. They were positive we would be watching Paraguay v Algeria at the New Home Park, Plymouth and Austria v Japan at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Yet, within the past few months, them and their peers were convinced the bid was down the toilet due to the BBC Panorama programme and The Sunday Times exposing the corruption deep within FIFA.
Doesn't seem they looked far enough.
The Daily Telegraph today stated that a number of executive committee members turned tail and ran at the Ruble after promising to back the English bid after the final presentations and pleading had commenced.
Whilst the immediate response was frustration and anger, this was miss-directed at Russia. On the surface they did nothing wrong and even whatever was going on underground is clearly not an issue for FIFA. They fly in the face of ethics and trust when it comes to making a fast buck.
Russia obviously knew the game better than us, and turned enough heads (not least with the buxom blond in the leopard skin dress, dancing around when the name was read out) within the committee to ensure we'd be running around on plastic pitches in Moscow, St Petersburg et al come June 2018. Just like the good old days at Luton and Oldham.
Maybe we have all just been incredibly naive. Bid Chairman Andy Anson made a passionate address stating that it would be a waste of time and money putting in another bid unless the voting procedures were changed, radically. It looked like a case of sour grapes, but when, as he so rightly pointed out, we had the best technical bid, the best economic bid, the best stadia currently available and the best presentation, it seemed to count for nothing, as Marios Lefkaritis from the footballing powerhouse Cyprus pointed out " If England think they did not suffer because of their media then they are stupid and naive". Ah, there was me thinking it was about football and the ability to stage a tournament, not what our independent TV stations and papers report, regardless that they were proven right and votes were bought.
It doesn't seem that the righteous indignation stops and starts with the the press and blogger's of this country. The acting F.A Chairman, Roger Burden stepped down and out of the candidacy for the permanent role, commenting "An important part of the F.A job is to liaise with FIFA, and i want nothing more to do with them" and elaborated in his letter to the F.A board that he was not prepared to deal with people whom he could not trust.
Of course Russia and Qatar aren't going to be complaining and you don't see the Netherlands/Belgium or Spain/Portugal bid team making such statements, but when you are promised votes by the members of the committee and they renege on that promise it becomes hard to work with these people. What benefit was there for them to switch their votes at the last minute? Or were they just lying?
The Executive Committee has been described in the news since Thursday as a "boys club", if you hurt an individual member they pull rank and punish those responsible. Is this the behaviour of a group of men who can, at a whim, toy with people who have worked hard to present a bid worthy of holding the World Cup, which by 2018, will be 52 years since the last time. Its not as if they have had to work hard in any capacity during the past two years to create an environment for the worlds greatest sporting event.
Jack Warner, the vice-president of the committee and former world footballing star....or sorry no, one of the greatest managers the world has......sorry.....no, he wasn't that either....whats he done then? Erm.......anyway, he had control of three votes, told Prince William England had his vote and then voted Russia. He must have been in a bad mood because the Trinidad F.A had to fork out $6million to the players of their national league (i know, who knew they had a league, let alone that much cash) after a court ruled against him. The man sounds like a class act.
At the end of the day, its done. Finished. Nothing we can do. Unless we take it to an independent arbitration, but something tells me they won't find in our favour.
I hope all the teams participating at Qatar 2022 enjoy the 50C temperatures and if we want to stand any chance in Russia to ship in a couple of hundred plastic pitches and get whichever ball FIFA think up for the particular tournament in well in advance.
One things for sure, in the words of Andy Anson, a new bid would be "a waste of time".
I'm so looking forward to it.
Strangely though, especially after Dion Dublin's Nostradamus like predictions ("we heard it here first"), FIFA seemed to have spelt ENGLAND, RUSSIA.
It was odd that the presence of the "holy trinity", Beckham, Cameron and Wales, seemed to have all pundits and bookmakers alike sure that we were a shoe-in. They were positive we would be watching Paraguay v Algeria at the New Home Park, Plymouth and Austria v Japan at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Yet, within the past few months, them and their peers were convinced the bid was down the toilet due to the BBC Panorama programme and The Sunday Times exposing the corruption deep within FIFA.
Doesn't seem they looked far enough.
The Daily Telegraph today stated that a number of executive committee members turned tail and ran at the Ruble after promising to back the English bid after the final presentations and pleading had commenced.
Whilst the immediate response was frustration and anger, this was miss-directed at Russia. On the surface they did nothing wrong and even whatever was going on underground is clearly not an issue for FIFA. They fly in the face of ethics and trust when it comes to making a fast buck.
Russia obviously knew the game better than us, and turned enough heads (not least with the buxom blond in the leopard skin dress, dancing around when the name was read out) within the committee to ensure we'd be running around on plastic pitches in Moscow, St Petersburg et al come June 2018. Just like the good old days at Luton and Oldham.
Maybe we have all just been incredibly naive. Bid Chairman Andy Anson made a passionate address stating that it would be a waste of time and money putting in another bid unless the voting procedures were changed, radically. It looked like a case of sour grapes, but when, as he so rightly pointed out, we had the best technical bid, the best economic bid, the best stadia currently available and the best presentation, it seemed to count for nothing, as Marios Lefkaritis from the footballing powerhouse Cyprus pointed out " If England think they did not suffer because of their media then they are stupid and naive". Ah, there was me thinking it was about football and the ability to stage a tournament, not what our independent TV stations and papers report, regardless that they were proven right and votes were bought.
It doesn't seem that the righteous indignation stops and starts with the the press and blogger's of this country. The acting F.A Chairman, Roger Burden stepped down and out of the candidacy for the permanent role, commenting "An important part of the F.A job is to liaise with FIFA, and i want nothing more to do with them" and elaborated in his letter to the F.A board that he was not prepared to deal with people whom he could not trust.
Of course Russia and Qatar aren't going to be complaining and you don't see the Netherlands/Belgium or Spain/Portugal bid team making such statements, but when you are promised votes by the members of the committee and they renege on that promise it becomes hard to work with these people. What benefit was there for them to switch their votes at the last minute? Or were they just lying?
The Executive Committee has been described in the news since Thursday as a "boys club", if you hurt an individual member they pull rank and punish those responsible. Is this the behaviour of a group of men who can, at a whim, toy with people who have worked hard to present a bid worthy of holding the World Cup, which by 2018, will be 52 years since the last time. Its not as if they have had to work hard in any capacity during the past two years to create an environment for the worlds greatest sporting event.
Jack Warner, the vice-president of the committee and former world footballing star....or sorry no, one of the greatest managers the world has......sorry.....no, he wasn't that either....whats he done then? Erm.......anyway, he had control of three votes, told Prince William England had his vote and then voted Russia. He must have been in a bad mood because the Trinidad F.A had to fork out $6million to the players of their national league (i know, who knew they had a league, let alone that much cash) after a court ruled against him. The man sounds like a class act.
At the end of the day, its done. Finished. Nothing we can do. Unless we take it to an independent arbitration, but something tells me they won't find in our favour.
I hope all the teams participating at Qatar 2022 enjoy the 50C temperatures and if we want to stand any chance in Russia to ship in a couple of hundred plastic pitches and get whichever ball FIFA think up for the particular tournament in well in advance.
One things for sure, in the words of Andy Anson, a new bid would be "a waste of time".
I'm so looking forward to it.
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